Melbourne Cup Week Is Not One Day. The Transport Problem Starts on Sunday
Most people think of Melbourne Cup as a Tuesday. One race, one afternoon, one public holiday in Victoria. The racing itself is two minutes. The chaos around it lasts considerably longer. From a ground transport perspective, Cup week starts on the Sunday before. That's when the interstate arrivals begin. Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth - corporate guests flying in for Monday hospitality events, executives checking into Collins Street hotels two days before the race to get ahead of the city filling up. The flights coming into Tullamarine on Sunday evening before Cup week are noticeably different to a regular Sunday. The luggage is different. The passengers are dressed differently even in transit. People travelling for the Melbourne Cup Carnival carry a certain energy before they've even cleared the terminal. By Monday the city has shifted. Restaurant bookings are tighter. Traffic through the CBD takes longer. The hotels in Southbank and the CBD are at capacity and the concierge...